4.1 Physical resources This chapter describes the physical and human resources in the allopathic system of medicine in Sri Lanka.12
4.1.1 Capital stock and investments The state curative facilities are organized into a tiered structure, each providing a defined level of care. They range from teaching hospitals linked to universities that have super specialties, provincial, district, general and base hospitals with selected specialties, to divisional hospitals (outpatient care and inward care) manned by non-specialist doctors, and primary medical care units offering only outpatient care. There are also a few specialized hospitals that serve as centres of excellence in the system. In 2017, the total number of hospital beds in the state sector curative facilities stood at 83 275 (Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, 2018a; Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, 2019b). The numbers and bed strength according to different types of state hospitals as of 2016 are presented in Table 4.1. Table 4.1 Distribution of state hospitals by category of institution and bed strength Number of hospitals
Bed strength
Teaching hospital
16
20 310
Provincial general hospital
3
5 076
Category of institution Tertiary care
Secondary care Primary care
District general hospital
19
12 080
Subtotal
38
37 466
Base hospital – Type A
24
8 891
Base hospital – Type B
50
8 960
Subtotal
74
17 851
Divisional hospital – Type A
50
5 345
Divisional hospital – Type B
134
9 076
Divisional hospital – Type C
296
7 901
PMCU with maternity beds
11
145
Subtotal
491
22 467
Other hospitals
25
5 491
Total
628
83 275
PMCU: primary medical care unit Source: Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, 2019b 12 Although contemporary Sri Lanka has a pluralistic health system, the allopathic system caters to the majority of the population. As stated in Chapter 2, this publication is mainly on the allopathic system.
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